Music worth leaving the house for

Get set for some songwriters' strengths in the cozy confines of The Cave, with Verhoeven's (7:30 p.m.) bluegrass flavor, Wendell pop-rockers Fey (10 p.m.), the inner-space pop of Erie Choir and starters Grammar Debate. Full bill. —CT

Friday, June 1

Big City Reverie, Mercy Mercedes, The Brewery

The Brewery is out to prove that life doesn't roll downhill after 21. The venue, now three years past that milestone, is featuring six bands on Day One of a two-day birthday celebration. Raleigh's Big City Reverie brings Copeland-esque melodies. Mercy Mercedes brings their Panic! at the Disco influence from Greensboro, while South Carolina singer Corey Crowder arrives with his rich voice and acoustic roots. Also, Bombomb, A Clerestory and Dakota Darling. 9 p.m. —BC

Vendetta & the Nines, Bynum General Store

A wispy blond pixie with bright red lips, Vendetta Cream fancies herself and her name a bit symbolic: "...like a dessert, a wicked dessert." The comparison holds true, as Vendetta's sweet vocals hinge on a faux French accent that accompanies the frothy blend of jazz piano and horn played by her jazz/swing trio, the Nines. A modern-day torch singer, Vendetta's slightly macabre, '40s-styled soprano and sultry sex-pot appeal wouldn't be out of place in a French cabaret or at least an off-kilter remake of Moulin Rouge. Pass the hat/ 7 p.m. —KJ

Millstock, Downtown Clayton

The FlipSide Lounge at the Coffee Mill has long been Clayton's best spot for live music, and the seventh annual Millstock in downtown Clayton gathers four FlipSide favorites. There's Kennebec, splitting the difference between Southern rock and South-born jangle, and the swinging, sharp-dressed blues of Valentino and the Piedmont Sheiks. Take one guess what Zydecopious and Marshall Stephenson & the Bluegrass Train serve up. 10 a.m. —RC

Nikki Meets the Hibachi, Rift, The Cave

Chapel Hill's seasoned folk-rockers Nikki Meets the Hibachi spin their warm acoustic melodies from the cloth of age and friendship. On their latest record, Back Around, the duo eases hushed lullabies that steadily grow into swelling choruses, their voices mingling over airy guitar plucks and redolent beats. Rift slips into jamgrass with instrumental dexterity all around. $5/ 7:30 p.m. —KJ

Saturday, June 2

Millstock, Downtown Clayton

The FlipSide Lounge at the Coffee Mill has long been Clayton's best spot for live music, and the seventh annual Millstock in downtown Clayton gathers four FlipSide favorites. There's Kennebec, splitting the difference between Southern rock and South-born jangle, and the swinging, sharp-dressed blues of Valentino and the Piedmont Sheiks. Take one guess what Zydecopious and Marshall Stephenson & the Bluegrass Train serve up. 10 a.m. —RC

Called to Arms, Headbelt, The Brewery

What a difference a day makes: Part two of the Brewery's birthday celebration will features a vastly dissimilar sound from Day One, going on the heavy side of things in Raleigh. It might draw a distinctly different audience, but the lineup is no less promising. Take, for example, metalcore group Called to Arms, a Brewery staple, and Obsidian, with influences from Tool and Opeth to the screaming sounds of Zao. And Headbelt? Well, they're nice and heavy, too. If you walk by the Brewery on Saturday and the people inside sound a little angry, don't worry. It's just their way of saying happy birthday. 9 p.m. —BC

Filthybird, Bull City Headquarters

There's a rich swirl of New South mystique hidden in Greensboro's Filthybird, especially through frontwoman Renee Mendoza. Her songwriting—a collagist's reflection on the toils of love and life—proclaims a naiveté rung through resilience and tenacity. "I was born a bird/ A bird I will die," she sings on the perfect, "The Gospel as Judas Told it to Me," her rangy, romantic voice carrying that charge above a band capable of the same lull and lift. Filthybird moans in textural splendor until they climb into big, clanging rock crescendos, free and emphatic and strong. The band's debut, Southern Skies, is one of the best 10 records you'll hear from this state all year, guaranteed. 8 p.m. —GC

Gospel Jubilators, Saxapahaw Music Series at Saxapahaw River Mill

Growing up, I was a little jealous of my Catholic friends. For some reason, it seemed cool to be able to go to church on Saturday evening. Thanks to the Gospel Jubilators, who are bringing their sacred sound—characterized by Sensational Nightingale-style harmonies and handclapping rhythms—to Saxapahaw, we'll all have that option. 6 p.m. —RC

West Memphis Three Benefit, Downtown Events Center

An aggressively eclectic night of local rock, this third-annual benefit once again seeks to raise funds for the continued defense of three Memphis teenagers arrested in 1993 for a murder they say they didn't commit. Ironically, these bands are geared to celebration: Viva La Venus kicks original flair like Joan Jett on a power-pop binge, while Doco lets big bass steps ride an insistent reggae downbeat. Lactose Quervo embeds soul vocals in progressive rock structures and psychedelic skews, and Out of Orbit—the highlight here—sounds like indie kids climbing from the gutters and rediscovering Cobain and Corgan. 9 p.m. —GC

Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun, Hideaway BBQ

The title track of Bill Kirchen's Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods name-checks some of the finest guitarists ever to wield a Telecaster. You'd never hear it from the modest Kirchen, but he belongs somewhere on that list. But perhaps even more impressive than his guitar thunder is his comfort with everything from doo-wop and folk-rock to Detroit soul and pure honky-tonk, all of which show up on Hammer, one of 2007's finest. $15/ 9:30 p.m. —RC

Wednesday, June 6

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Thee More Shallows

Thee More Shallows, Local 506

A San Francisco trio interested in piling all sorts of textures—Casio keyboards, noise saturation, distorted guitars, heavy drumbreaks—into plaintive pop songs, new anticon signees Thee More Shallows got punchier and more strident for this year's Book of Bad Breaks. The album's intriguing single apparent, "Night at the Knight School," combines those Ben Gibbard big-dreams/small-problems reflections (remember "Glove Compartment?") with an aggressive sense of arrangement that buries Grandaddy sounds in goth-pop melodrama. The Nothing Noise and The Busy World open. $8/ 10 p.m. —GC